1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method of segmenting a composite image of pixels into a number of fields corresponding to layout elements of the image, the pixels having a value representing the intensity and/or color of a picture element, which method comprises finding field separators corresponding to areas of adjacent pixels of the image, having a predefined property indicative of a background of the image. The invention further relates to a device for segmenting a composite image of pixels into a number of fields corresponding to layout elements of the image, the pixels having a value representing the intensity and/or color of a picture element, which device comprises an input unit for inputting an image, and a processing unit for finding field separators corresponding to areas of adjacent pixels having a predefined property indicative of a background of the image.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
A method for page segmentation is known from the article “Flexible page segmentation using the background” by A. Antonacopoulos and R. T Ritchings in Proceedings 12th International Conference on Pattern Recognition, Jerusalem, Israel, October 9-12, IEEE-CS Press, 1994, vol2, pp. 339-344. According to this method, the image is represented by pixels that have a value representing the intensity and/or color of a picture element. This value is classified as background (usually white) or foreground (usually black, being printed space). The white background space that surrounds the printed regions on a page is analyzed. The background white space is covered with tiles, i.e. non-overlapping areas of background pixels.
The contour of a foreground field in the image is identified by tracing along the white tiles that encircle it, such that the inner borders of the tiles constitute the border of a field for further analysis. A problem of this method, however, is that the borders of the fields are represented by a complex description which frustrates efficient further analysis.